It is common for a variety of goods and products to be stocked, often in quantity, for sale by merchants on shelves, racks, cases, bins, etc. for inspection and selection by consumers. The display of pricing information at the location of each particular product, i.e. at the point of sale, is ordinarily necessary as price tends to be a major factor in product choice. Moreover, certain products are often promoted or emphasized for sale at certain times by means of advertisement and/or price reduction and the display to the potential purchaser of the desired advertising or other promotional information or reduction in price can be critical to the success of such promotion.
While small pricing tickets or tags can be attached, e.g. clipped, as is the usual practice, to an edge of the shelf or rack in proximity to each group of products, the amount of information that can be provided on tickets or tags is quite limited, being usually restricted to identity and price alone, making the exhibition of appealing advertising material to entice an undecided customer almost out of the question. In any event, this kind of display lacks the distinctive character required for significant impact on the perception of a prospective purchaser in that it does not differentiate from regular pricing tickets or stand out from the remainder of the merchandize in the area.
Hence, merchants have addressed this problem by means of special displays that can be associated in one way or another with a group of products and can carry sufficient information to entice the attention of a passing customer and induce him or her to pause and examine the particular merchandise. Various devices have been proposed in the art for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,996,616 shows a holder for an advertising insert having a solid metal sheet with its margins on three sides folded re-entrantly to define shallow channels for the reception of three edges of an insert sheet inserted through the open remaining side thereof. Pivotable ears are provided on the holder at two spaced points adjacent the fourth edge of the insert which can be pivoted over that edge to act as spring clamps holding the insert in place. The metal sheet is extended on its fourth side and bent into a hook for anchorage to a suitable support.
A somewhat similar holder is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,581,742 except that the metal sheet is folded on two opposite side margins into U-shaped channels and the remaining two opposite side edges are bent into lips projecting angularly to the body of the sheet forming the back wall of the holder. A sign to be displayed is passed at an angle over one of the lips until its leading edge at its margins slides into the open ends of the two opposite channels and then advanced along the channels until its trailing edge has cleared the lip. The sign then lies flat against the back wall with two opposite edges seated within the channels and is prevented from inadvertent displacement from the holder is prevented by the projecting lips but can be forcibly removed by bending one of its margins angularly clear of the adjacent lip and sliding the bent sign laterally out of the holder. This holder includes a stake for placement in the ground but could instead be easily adapted for attachment to supports of the kind found in stores.
While display holders of the structure just described certainly are capable for carrying out the function desired, the stamping and shaping of metal sheets is relatively expensive, bearing in mind the need for a considerable number of display holders for every store. In addition, the need for at least one edge of the holder to be exposed, i.e. not folded into a channel, to enable the placard to be inserted in place lends an unfinished appearance that suggests a "bargain basement" and is not as aesthetically attractive as is demanded in shops offering higher quality merchandise which often adopt an elaborate and expensive decor.
To some extent, the above problems are avoided in the display holder found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,018 where the frame is formed from either metal or plastic and has three sides shaped to define mutually facing channels arranged in "U" fashion, the fourth side, i.e. along the top of the latter "U", being slotted along its length with the slot opening in registration with the channel openings. Thus, a placard can be passed through the slot of the slotted side until its margins are engaged in the channels of the three sides. To insure that the placard does not become dislodged from the holder, a spring finger is riveted at one end in one of the channels adjacent the open end of the channel proximate to the slotted side of the frame. The spring finger is biased away at its other end from the base of the channel to yieldably contact the corner edge of an inserted placard and create a frictional resistance to movement of the placard. The extreme end of the finger projects through the slot exteriorly of the frame for engagement by hand to release the spring pressure and free the placard for removal from the frame.
Despite its improvement over earlier forms, the latter display frame requires special assembly of the spring finger which is a costly additional manufacturing step. Moreover, it may be desirable in some instances to utilize thin paper display signs which lack the stiffness to effectively resist the pressure of the spring finger so that such signs become creased and "dog-eared", detracting from the display.
In a somewhat different vein, slotted holders for one or a plurality of plastic cards, such as a driver's license or credit cards, have been proposed as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,952 and 4,674,628, which include projections proximate the internal limits of the slots for engaging the plastic card near its innermost extremity. In the formers a back wall of the holder carries an internal shouder for engagement with a lip deformed at one end of the card while in the latter, the side walls of a plurality of parallel channels each receiving a side margin of a card inserted therein carry at their interior ends opposed protrusions for pinching the margin of as fully inserted card. In either instance, the entry opening of the slots of these holders is unrestricted and the plastic card must possess considerable regidity.